Control devices for sequence control in vehicles, in particular motor control devices, are having to undertake ever more complex control tasks and therefore have an increasing number of electronic and electrical components that have to be arranged on printed circuit boards. In order to meet this requirement, there are, in addition to the use of a plurality of printed circuit boards that then have to be electrically connected to one another in a complex manner, multi-part printed circuit boards as well that are connected to one another by means of current-carrying, flexible regions produced, for example, by means of milling. This means simplification of the production process, since particularly the subsequent electrical connection of a plurality of printed circuit boards no longer applies.
However, since control devices in the automotive field are subjected to high mechanical loads, in particular vibrations, it is necessary to properly anchor the individual printed circuit board parts to the housing. At present, this is usually done by means of screws; however, this involves an increased level of production outlay. Moreover, on account of power electronics components and the significant heating associated therewith, good heat transfer from a printed circuit board part to the normally metallic housing, which functions as a heatsink, has to be provided.
DE 39 36 906 A1 discloses a printed circuit board composed of a plurality of printed circuit board parts, which are connected to one another by way of flexible regions by means of which the printed circuit board parts are pivoted by bending around the flexible regions several times in such a way that the two edge parts of the entire printed circuit board that are intended to receive plugs come to lie in the same plane. Two printed circuit board parts that are opposite one another by way of the multiple bending operations are adhesively bonded to a cover and to a base, respectively, of a housing receiving the printed circuit board, wherein the cover and the base are anchored in corresponding grooves of a circumferential housing frame part. In this way, although a multi-part printed circuit board can be properly coupled to the housing mechanically and thermally, the production is complex.
DE 10 2013 200 635 A1 likewise discloses a multi-part printed circuit board, in which further partial printed circuit boards are connected to a plurality of sides of a central partial printed circuit board by way of flexible regions, at which in turn further, smaller partial printed circuit boards are connected. By appropriately bending the flexible regions, the partial printed circuit boards are positioned such that all the partial printed circuit boards are arranged perpendicularly to the central partial printed circuit board and the smaller partial printed circuit boards come to lie next to one another, since they are fitted with plugs and are intended to be positioned in the opening of a housing. Although the partial printed circuit boards are pressed against an adjacent housing wall by the restoring force of the flexible regions when the printed circuit board is mounted in a housing, this is not sufficient to prevent the partial printed circuit boards from oscillating at vibrations as occur to a great extent in a motor vehicle, with the result that the partial printed circuit boards usually have to be screwed on.
The multi-part printed circuit boards of DE 39 36 906 A1 and DE 10 2013 200 635 A1 can, of course, be supplemented with further partial printed circuit boards such that a whole rectangular prism can be produced, for example, the side walls of which are formed by the partial printed circuit boards.
However, with increasing complexity of the multi-part printed circuit board, despite the advantages thereof, there is the problem of increasingly complex production of the final shape and the mounting thereof in a housing.